Refrigerator construction.



J. W. MARSHALL.

REFRIGERATOR CONSTRUCTION,

APPLICATION FILED AUG-l6. 1915.

1,215,948. Patented Feb.13,1917.

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Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

J. W. MARSHALL.

REFRIGERATOR CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION men AUG-I6. 1915.

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JOSEPH W. IMARSHALL, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

REFRIGERATOR CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented'lfieb, 31.3, 191%.

Application filed August 16, 1915. Serial No. 45,676.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J osnrn WV. MARSHALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State .of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerator Constructions, of which the following is a full and exact specification.

This invention relates to improvements in refrigerator constructions, and aims to-;provide an improved arrangement whereby a water circulation may be employed for refrigeration purposes. For carrying out this object a water-storage tank is provided which is arranged in relation to a circulating fan wheel for actuating the latter by means of water dripping from the tank, and thereby breaking up the flow of the water and acting to maintain a certain degree of circulation of the air within the refrigerator. In this connection it is also an object to provide a storage-tank construction wherein a certain level of the water will be automatically restored from time to time, though the supply of the feed water to the tank may not be constant.

With these general objects in View, the invention will now be described with reference to one form of embodiment of the same which has been devised for carrying it into practice, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a refrigerator construction embodying the present improvements, being taken along the line II of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken along the line II-II of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a similar section taken along the line III-III of Fig. 1.

Referring in detail to the said drawings, the refrigerator casing 2 has arranged 1ongitudinally in the upper portion thereof a supply-tank 4: which is provided with an inlet pipe 6 adapted to be connected to any suitable source of cold water (not shown), although, if desired, the space within this tank may be used as an ice compartment, access being had thereto through the hinged cover 8, in which latter case the water from the melting ice will serve to carry out the refrigerating action below outlined. The bottom of the tank 4 inclines transversely to the rear of the refrigerator, being carried over a series of spaced cross pieces or drain strips 10, which are flutedtsee Fig. 1) for carrying off the Water of condensation which collects upon the outerface of the tank l. A similar series of fluted drain strips 12 is arranged beneath the cross pieces 10 and in staggered relation thereto, both series 10 and 12 inclining to the rear of the refrigerator and draining into the longitudinal gutter le I Opposite its inlet end, the supply tank 4t is provided with an outlet pipe 16 spaced slightly above the bottoin'of the tank and extending into position to overflow into a water storage tank 18 which is carried upon suitable bracket supports 20 provided at one end of the refrigerator. This tank 18 is fitted with an overflow drip pipe 22 ar ranged to overflow after the water in the tank 18 attains a given level, the lower end of said pipe being somewhat of a nozzle form and draining into a waste or catch pan 24 which is carried by the bottom of the refrigerator. The catch pan 24 is provided with an overflow outlet 26 extending through the outer wall of the refrigerator casing.

Intermediate the storage tank 18 and the waste or catch pan 2% is mounted a'circulating fan wheel 28 adapted to be adjusted into position to present the vanes of the wheel to the action of the water which issues from the lower end of the drip pipe 22. For

varying the position of the fan wheel with relation to the path of the drip water, said wheel is journaled on a bracket member 30, the upper end of which is adj ustably mounted upon the pin 32 projecting from the end wall of the refrigerator casing. The bracket member 30 together with the wheel 28 may be shifted toward or from the end wall of the refrigerator casing as well as about the 'pin 32- as an axis, and the bracket member is secured in its various adjustments by means of the set screw By means of this construction, the stream of water issuing from the drain pipe 22 is broken up as it drives the circulating fan wheel, thereby enhancing the cooling effect of the water, while the rotating action of the wheel acts to maintain a degree of circulation of air within the refrigerator, and the energy with which the circulating fan wheel is actuated may obviously be regulated by adjusting the position of the wheel with relation to the line of flow of the drip water.

Each of the above water receptacles, z. e., the tanks 4L and 18 and the waste pan 24c, retains a given quantity of water at all times for the purpose of supporting the refrigeration.

Since the How of water from the supply tank 4; into the storage tank 18 may not always be sufiicient to maintain a drip current which will effectively operate the fan wheel 28, means is provided for intermittently storing a supply of water sufficient to drive the wheel 28 for a given length of time regardless of whether the feed flow through the outlet 16 would of itself give the required flow for this purpose without the interposition of some such storing and flushing means as is here outlined. This means comprises a tilting bucket 36 mounted upon the pivots 38 between the side walls of the storage tank 18. The bottom of this tilting bucket 36 is of angular formation as shown in Fig. 2, resulting in a bucket in which the center of the contained volume of water shifts from one side to the other of the axis of the pivots 38 as the bucket is filled, thereby causing the bucket to tilt automatically after it has become approximately full and thus empty the bucket. When empty the bucket rests in the position shown by the full lines in Fig. 2, in engagement with the stop member 40, and when full the bucket is swung into the position represented by the dotted lines in said figure, into engagement with the stop member 12 for emptying the bucket, which thereafter returns automatically to initial position. In case the drip pipe 22 should ever become stopped up, an overflow pipe 44 is provided which extends above the level to which the storage tank 18 is filled by means of the bucket 36, and also drains into the waste or catch pan 24.

The circulating fan wheel is screened off from the interior of the refrigerator casing by means of a perforated sheet of metal 46,

one margin of which is rolled as at 18 for the purpose of hookin g the screen over a rod 50 extending from front to rear of the easing at about the height of the top margin of the fan wheel 28. This acts both to screen the wheel from view and also as a splash guard for the same, while at the same time the perforations permit the proper degree of air circulation.

A pipe connection 52 is provided between the lower end of the gutter 14 and the waste or catch pan for properly draining said gutter.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that a simple and efficient arrangement has been devised for carrying out the purposes of the invention. The water of condensation which forms upon the outer surface of the supply-tank 4 is drained of? by the fluted strips 10 and 12 into the gutter 14:

and through the pipe 52 into the catch pan of water to derive still greater cooling effect therefrom and also serves to support a certain degree of air circulation within the refrigerator. 7

While what is now deemed to constitute the preferred form of embodiment of the invention has been described and illustrated, the right is reserved to such formal changes and modifications as may fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims: V V

1. In a refrigerator construction, the combination of a water storage tank provided with a drip pipe, and a circulating fan wheel located beneath said pipe in position to be actuated by the water dripping therefrom, said wheel being mounted for adjustment about a horizontal axis extending parallel to the axis of the wheel for moving the wheel toward and from the line of flow of said drip water.

2. In a refrigerator construction, the combination of a water storage tank provided with a drip pipe, and a circulating fan wheel located beneath said'pipe in position to be a circulating fan wheel journaled on said support in position'to be actuated by the water dripping from said pipe, said support being adjustably mounted for movement in a horizontal direction parallel to the axis of said wheel for varying the position of the latter with reference to the line of flow of said drip water.

l. In a refrigerator construction, the combination of a water drip pipe, a fan wheel support located beneath said pipe, and a circulating fan wheel journaled on said support in position to be actuated by the water dripping from said pipe, said support being adjustable about a horizontal axis parallel to the axis of said Wheel and also'in a direction parallel to said axis, for varying the position of the Wheel with reference to the to be actuated by the Water dripping from line of flow of said drip Water. said pipe, and means acting automatically 5. In a refrigerator construction, the comand intermittently to restore the level of the bination of a Water storage tank provided Water in said tank to a line above said drip 5 with a drip pipe arranged to overflow as the pipe.

Water rises above a given level in the tank,

a circulating fan Wheel mounted in position JOSEPH W. MARSHALL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

